The 1% War

THE 1% WAR, OR THE MEMOIRS OF #CHEVALIER, A NOVELLA WITH PICTURES, WRITTEN IN 2016 AND PRESENTED WITH EXCERPTS

AS POPE FRANCIS LINGERED FOR ONE FINAL MOMENT, HE PURPORTEDLY STOPPED AND LOOKING SKYWARD SAW AN ANGEL DESCENDING TOWARDS THE SQUARE. HE THEN SPOKE THE APOCRYPHAL WORDS, “WE ARE ALL SOFT TARGETS. NONE IS SAFE ANYMORE; BECAUSE WHEN LOVE LEFT THE WORLD, PEOPLE WERE CONSUMED WITH THE FEAR OF THE FEAR OF TERROR, AS IT NOW CONSUMES OUR COSMOS. THIS GRAVEN AND DARK TIME WILL BE KNOWN AS THE 1% WAR. LORD FORGIVE US, THIS DID NOT HAVE TO BE.” AND THEN THE POPE LEFT VATICAN CITY AND NEVER RETURNED.

THERE ARE THOUSANDS OF MCDONALD’S, WHERE IS THIS ONE? AND I LOOK LIKE ANYBODY, DON”T I? HOW DO YOU KNOW I HAVEN’T JUST SET A BOMB TO GO OFF BEHIND ME IN TEN MINUTES? THINK YOU CAN STOP ME? THINK YOU CAN STOP ANY OF US? I AM HERE AMONG YOU, I’VE BEEN HERE FOR YEARS, AND ITS YOUR TURN TO FEEL THE PAIN WE’VE BEEN FEELING. WE ARE GOING TO BRING DOWN YOUR SYSTEM. YOUR WAY OF LIFE, ONE PIECE A TIME UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT FOR YOU TO MAKE MONEY FROM, NOTHING LEFT FOR YOU TO FEEL FAT AND HAPPY ABOUT. WE ARE GOING TO TERRORIZE YOU RIGHT DOWN TO YOUR LAST BIG MAC AND SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR DISGUSTING 1% THROATS. THINK ABOUT IT THE NEXT TIME YOU GOT TO THE MALL AND LINE UP TO BUY A HAPPY MEAL, YOU PIGS.

ARTISTS BEGAN MOUNTING LOUD AND IN YOUR FACE ARTSY STREET PROTESTS THINKING THEY WOULD BE UNMOLESTED THE MORE NOISE THEY MADE BUT MAN, WERE THEY WRONG. THEY BEGAN “DISAPPEARING LIKE ARTISTS DID YEARS BEFORE IN CHILE WHEN PINOCHET KILLED THEM IN THE HUNDREDS BY DROPPING THEM OUT OF HELICOPTERS INTO THE JUNGLES TO THEIR DEATHS. ARTISTS HAD FINALLY BECOME A DANGER IN THE U.S.. SO NOW THEY ARE ALL DEAD OR LOCKED UP WHERE THEY HAVE BECOME MEDICAL OR WEAPONS EXPERIMENTS WITH BROKEN BODIES AND TWISTED MINDS. THEIR INEFFECTUAL ART PROTESTS ONLY GOT THEIR NAMES ON LISTS AND DOOMED THEM.

WHEN THEY LOOKED AT THE SECURITY CAMERA JUST AS THE BOMB ON THE BICYCLE WAS GOING OFF THERE SHOULDN’T HAVE BEEN A BICYCLE ON THE UBANHOF PLATFORM OR THE THREE SECURITY GUARDS LOOKING THE OTHER WAY, WE JUST COULDN’T STOP FROM WONDERING WHAT WAS IN THE MIND OF THE GIRL WHO WAS GETTING HER LAST SIP OF COFFEE BEFORE SHE WOULD NORMALLY RUSH OFF AND BEGIN HER DAY LIKE EVERY OTHER DAY? THEN WE SAW THE IMAGE ON THE GROUND, NOT A SHADOW, BUT THE IMAGE OF THE DEATH RIDER. IT STUNNED US, IT MADE NO SENSE THE WAY IT WAS SITTING THERE, BUT YET THERE IT WAS LIKE A DEMON

AS CONDITIONS WORSENED VARIOUS POLICE FACTIONS, WHOSE ONLY PURPOSE WAS TO ACQUIRE CONTROL OF WHAT REMAINING RESOURCES THEY COULD, SET UP HEADQUARTERS IN FORMER CORPORATE OFFICES OF COMPANIES LIKE AIG, SYMBOLS OF POWER OF THE 1%. THEY FORTIFIED AND FENCED THEMSLVES IN, THUS RESEMBLING THE POLICE STATIONS DURING THE CIVIL WARS IN NORTHERN IRLEAND WHEN THE COPS WERE FORCED TO HIDE FROM AN ENRAGED CITIZENRY IT WAS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT. MEANWHILE. CIVIL WAR RAMPAGED THROUGH THE STREETS OF THE CITIES OF NORTH AMERICA.

AFTER THE FAILURE TO PUNISH BANKERS AND OLIGARCHS WHO CAUSED THE TOTAL COLLAPSE OF EQUITY IN THE DISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH IN THE UNITED STATES, IT WAS A BAD TIME TO BE A “SUIT.” AT FIRST THE 1% OR “SUITS” HAD THE UPPER HAND BUT IRONICALLY BECAUSE THEY HAD OPPOSED GUN CONTROL THEY WERE THE VERY INSTRUMENTS WHO ARMED THE REMAINING 99%. AT FIRST CHAOTIC AND UNDISCIPLINED, THE 99% BECAME EXPERT AT PICKING OFF THE 1% AND SUITS BECAME FAVORITE SOFT TARGETS. PREFERRED KILLING SITES WERE MALLS. AIRLINE TERMINALS, LONG OFFICE BUILDING HALLWAYS, ARCHITECTURE THAT LENT ITSELF TO ISOLATING THE TARGET, TAKING THEM OUT QUICKLY, AND WHERE THE ASSASSIN WOULD VANISH INTO THE CONFUSION OF THE URBAN STRUCTURE.

AS THE TERROR INCREASED, WEIRDLY A NUMBER OF PERSONS HAD DISAPPEARED WHILE AT ART MUSEUMS STANDING NEXT TO JEFF KOONS SCULPTURES. AS A RESULT STRICT SECURITY MEASURES WERE TAKEN AROUND ALL OF KOONS ARTWORK. NEVERTHELESS, HIS WORK BEGAN TO DISAPPEAR FROM THE GALLERIES OF MUSEUMS AND THEY SOON BECAME FORGOTTEN LUXURY ITEMS, AND HIS CAREER WENT INTO A TAILSPIN AS HE WAS FORCED TO GO INTO HIDING. SOME SAY HE HAD EXTENSIVE PLASTIC SURGERY AND MOVED TO DUBAI WHERE HE ENDED HIS DAYS LIVING AS A STOCKBROKER, ADVISING THE ROYAL FAMILY ON OFFSHORE MONEY MANAGEMENT BEFORE HE BECAME AN ALCOHOLIC AND UNABLE TO DEAL WITH THE LOSS OF FAME, SADLY TOOK HIS LIFE.

AS ASSASSINATIONS BECAME COMMONPLACE IN TIJUANA AND THEN SPILLED OVER INTO LOS ANGELES, AND FINALLY INTO THE HEARTLAND OF THE UNITED STATES, IT WAS AN EVERY DAY THING FOR US. OUR FAVORITE SPOTS WERE SOME OF THE AIRLINE TERMINALS, GREAT SOFT TARGETS BECAUSE THE ARCHITECTURE WAS AS IF IT HAD BEEN MADE FOR KILLING. LONG SLOW MOVING WALKWAYS IN HALF DESERTED TERMINALS WERE PERFECT BECAUSE PEOPLE WERE AFRAID TO BE OUT IN PUBLIC MAKING AN EASY IN-EASY OUT LAYOUT FOR A QUICK GUN MAN WITH HALF A BRAIN. I WOULD GET A PICTURE IN THE MORNING OF THE MARK, TRACK HIM COMING OFF THE PLANE, FOLLOW THEM AND WHEN WE REACHED ONE OF THE TERMINAL BREAK POINTS I WOULD PUT THE SILENCER ON THE PIECE, KILL THEM, AND SLIP AWAY. SOMETIMES I HAD TWO OR THREE A DAY AT LAX, THEN I WOULD GO TO LONG BEACH AND PICK OFF ONE OR TWO MORE. AT $1000 AN ASSIGNMENT, IT WAS A GOOD LIVING WHILE IT LASTED.

THE 1% DESPERATELY SOUGHT SOMETHING TO BELIEVE IN. THEY TURNED TO MAIL ORDER PRIESTS WHO OFFERED BLOOD SACRIFICES IN ART GALLERIES CALLING IT PERFORMANCE ART WHICH WAS SOME TWISTED SPIN ON CHRISTIANITY WITH A DOLLOP OF KABBALAH. ANY LUNATIC WITH A MAIL ORDER CERTIFICATE NOW SHOWED UP AS A HOLY MAN FOR THE RICH. SO, SEQUESTERED IN THEIR ELITIST TEMPLES OF HIGH ART CULTURE, THE 1% SIPPED BLOOD CORDIALS AND WAITED FOR THE OLD WORLD TO END AND THE NEW ONE TO BEGIN, AS THE MAIL ORDER PRIESTS PROMISED THEY WOULD MAKE THE FEAR GO AWAY.

THE INEXPLICABLE MASS SLAUGHTER TOOK PLACE IN CENTRAL PARK NEW YORK ONE WINTERS AFTERNOON AND WAS CAUGHT ON TAPE BY A FRIEND AS ONE OF THE GROUP’S CHILDREN SUDDENLY TURNED AND HURLED A LIVE GRENADE AT THE FAMILIES, KILLING THEM ALL IN THE WORST EXAMPLE OF DOMESTIC TERROR BY A MINOR SINCE RECORDS HAVE BEEN KEPT OF JUVENILE TERRORISM. THIS SINGLE ACT THREW THE COUNTRY INTO A SPASM OF FEAR UNKNOWN SINCE THE IRRATIONAL RESPONSE TO SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, WHEN THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT LIED ABOUT WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION IN IRAQ AND LAUNCHED A MASSIVE WAR THAT LED TO MILLIONS DEAD AND THE BANKRUPCY OF THE U.S. TREASURY.

IT BECAME ROUTINE. I LIVED IN ONE OF THE MANY BURNED OUT APARTMENT BUILDINGS IN THE OLD QUATER WHERE THE MUSLIM’S HAD LIVED BUT NOW WAS INHABITED BY TRASH AND SCUM, THROWAWAYS NO ONE TRACKED. I GOT UP EVERY MORNING, PACKED MY LUNCH OF BREAD AND CHEESE, AND WENT DOWNSTAIRS TO FIND A GREEN BAG RIGGED WITH EXPLOSIVES WITH A NOTE INSIDE TELLING ME THE LOCATION OF THE SOFT TARGET FOR THAT DAY. I’D FIND THE LOCATION, LEAVE THE BAG AND GO BACK HOME AND HEAR ABOUT IT LATER ON THE NEWS; HOW BIG THE BLAST HAD BEEN, HOW MANY HAD BEEN KILLED, HOW MANY HAD BEEN WOUNDED, WHO HAD CLAIMED RESPONSIBILILITY. I FELT NEUTRAL ABOUT IT ALL, I MAY AS WELL HAVE BEEN DELIVERING THE MILK.

The last time I saw my son, he was aloof, distant……Perhaps he thought I had sold out and was only useful to to get him his medicine. In any event, little was spoken, and this beautiful child, who I had raised and felt such unequivocal love for, was just slipping out of my life forever. He stuffed his knapsack with the Epipen’s I had the game. We held it that way tota tyl minute it stoned, hoping something ou id pass beose us, but there was asbolutely nothing left there, nothing left to say. My son had said goodbye and was not coming back.

AS FEAR OF TERROR INCREASED AND MORE SOFT TARGETS WERE ATTACKED, A SHORTAGE OF POLICEAND SECURITY COULD NOT SUPPLY ADEQUATE SAFETY MEASURES FOR THE GENERAL POPULATION. THE NEW HOLOGRAPHIC POLICEMEN INVENTED BY MICROSOFT WERE INTRODUCED IN PUBLIC GATHERING SPACES TO GREAT EFFECT, AND WHILE AT FIRST THEY WERE SYMBOLIC BEGAN TO TAKE ON A REAL PRESENCE AND BECAME A SOURCE OF REASSURANCE TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC. AT A TIME OF FLAGGING ECONOMIC INDICATORS MICROSOFT SAW A HUGE INCREASE IN ITS STOCK PRICES.

DURING THE RIOTS ON WALLS STREET, EUPHEMISTICALLY KNOWN AS THE WAR OF THE 1%, NEW YORK STORM TROOPER FINANCIERS WOULD PREPARE TO BATTLE THE 99%. DONNING BLACK HOODS AND JUMP SUITS PATTERNED AFTER SOUTH AFRICAN PARA-MILITARY POLICE, THEY WOULD RUSH TO ACTION IN THE COURTYARDS OF THE MAJOR BANKS IN THE WALL STREET ENCLAVES, LOAD THEIR AK-47’S, AND VICIOUSLY CUT DOWN THE PROTESTING MOBS OUTSIDE THE BANKING HEADQUARTERS WHERE THE 1% WERE SAFELY BARRICADED INSIDE THEIR STEEL AND GLASS REDOUBTS. REPLICATING THE EARLY HISTORY OF NEW YORK WHEN THE BANKING BARONS HIRED PRIVATE MILITIAS TO GUARD THEIR FAMILIES AND ESTATES, THESE BLACK SUITED STORM TROOPERS INITIALLY STRUCK FEAR INTO THE HEARTS OF THE CITIZENS WHO HAD COME TO PROTEST MORE OR LESS PEACEFULLY, YET THEIR SHOOT TO KILL TACTICS WERE SOON EMULATED BY THE 99% AND WITHIN A MATTER OF MONTHS THE 1% MILITIAS WERE OVERWHELMED AND SLAUGHTERED BY THE SHEER NUMBERS AND FIREPOWER OF THE NOW ORGANIZED MASSES OF RADICALIZED 99%ER’S.

MY HEADACHES WERE BACK, MIGRAINES FROM BEFORE THE WAR. WEIRDLY THEY HAD GONE AWAY WHEN I HAD STOPPED CARING ABOUT EVERYTHING. BUT WITH EMOTION AND FEELING BACK IN MY LIFE THOSE FUCKING HEADACHES WERE PLAGUING ME AGAIN. I’D BE PUTTING THE 1% WAR OUT TONIGHT ON THE DARK NET, THIS WAS THE LAST SEEDY ASSASINATION I WAS GOING TO COVER BEFORE I MADE ONE LAST PHOTO, WROTE SOME FINAL LINES AND HIT THE SEND BUTTON AND SEALED MY FATE. THE FILTHY LITTLE MAN HAD BEEN THE LAST STRAW. HE HAD COME OUT OF THE NIGHT LIKE SO MANY BEFORE HIM, ANONYMOUS AND UNANNOUNCED, NODDING HIS HEAD SO I KNEW TO FOLLOW HIM TO HIS AWFUL DESTINATION. GUNS AND GREASE, THOSE ARE THE THINGS I ASSOCIATE WITH GUYS LIKE HIM, THEY NEVER COMBED THEIR HAIR BECAUSE IT ALWAYS STUCK TO THEIR HEADS SINCE THEY NEVER BATHED. YOU COULD SMELL THEM COMING.

IN A NOW INFAMOUS EVENT, AN ART ACTIVIST WAS RAILING AT A ROOM OF LEADING ARTS FUNDERS. HE WAS AFRICAN AMERICAN, THEY WERE MOSTLY WHITE, BORED LIBERALS WHO HAD HEARD HIS RAP BEFORE. AS HE WAS SAYING “THIS IS THE CHANGE. THE SHEER AMOUNT OF THE OPPRESSED THAT WE WITNESS ON A BROAD SCALE IS UNPRECEDENTED AND BY NOT FUNDING US YOU ARE COMPLICIT IN THIS ECOSYSTEM OF OPPRESSION!” AT THE WORD OPPRESSION, THE DOORS TO THE BANQUEST HALL BURST OPEN AND A BURLY AFRICAN AMERICAN SOLDIER BLEW OFF THE ACTIVISTS HEAD WITH A PISTOL. MORE MERCENARY MILITIA QUICKLY FILLED THE ROOM AND SPRAYED IT WITH BULLETS AND WIPED OUT ALL OF THE ARTS FUNDERS BEFORE THEY COULD GET THEIR DESSERT SPOONS OUT OF THEIR COMPLACENT MOUTHS. THIS MASS KILLING SIGNALLED THE MILITARY’S POLICY TO DESTROY ALL ART AND CULTURE INFRASTRUCTURE THAT FOMENTED OR SUPPORTED DISSENT AND TREASON UNDER THE AMENDED ALIEN AND SEDITION ACTS OF 2023.

WHEN, IN 2016, LITTLE KNOWN REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BEN CARSWELL ANNOUNCED HE FELT MUSLIMS COULDN’T BE PRESIDENT, HIS STATEMENT CAUSED A CHAIN REACTION OF RACIAL PROFILING THAT HAD ENORMOUS CONSEQUENCES. POLICE BEGAN TO SUSPECT ANY MUSLIM, OR PERSON OF COLOR SINCE THEY THOUGHT THEY MOST LIKELY WERE MUSLIM BECAUSE THEY WERE DARK SKINNED, MUST BE PLANNING SOME KIND OF TERRORIST ATTACK. IN AN EARLY INCIDENT OF COMICAL RACIAL PROFILING, THE PROVIDENCE POLICE RAIDED THE DOWNTOWN RAILROAD STATION CONVINCED THEY HAD CREDIBLE INTEL THAT IN THE NEXT FIFTEEN MINUTES A TERRORIST ON A CELL PHONE WAS GOING TO CALL IN A DRONE STRIKE ON THE RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN TO BOMB THE FINE ART STUDIOS, A HAVEN FOR PROTESTORS WHO WERE LIBERAL SECULAR HUMANISTS. WHILE THIS LOGIC LATER ESCAPED MANY, THIS PHOTO TAKEN DURING THE UTTER CONFUSION AT THE MOMENT OF THE RAID ON THE RAILWAY STATION CAPTURES THE BIZARRE NATURE OF THE BUILDING PARANOIA IN THE YEARS BEFORE THE WAR.

BY 2020 THE WALL ON THE SOUTHERN BORDER HAD BEEN BUILT AND THE MASS DEPORTATION OF MEXICAN “ILLEGAL” WORKERS WAS WELL UNDER WAY. THOUSANDS, THEN HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN WERE FORCIBLY REMOVED FROM THEIR WORK PLACES AND HOMES AND SENT PACKING. PEOPLE WHO WERE NOT ILLEGAL WERE PROFILED AND CAUGHT UP IN THIS DRAGNET. RIOTING AND FIGHTING BEGAN TO BREAK OUT. IN 2022 THE FIRST “SHOOT TO KILL” ORDERS WERE GIVEN FOR ANYONE RESISTING. IT WAS LATER REPORTED THAT THE WORKERS WERE MILDLY RESISTING AND TALKING BACK, BUT THE SWAT TEAM LINED THEM UP IN THE PARKING LOT AND JUST BLEW THEM THE FUCK AWAY. IT LATER WAS KNOWN AS THE WAFFLE HOUSE MASSCRE IN BRADENTON, FLORIDA, AND WOULD LIVE ON IN THE ANNALS OF THE STRUGGLE OF THE 99% AS ONE OF THE INCIDENTS WHICH EMBOLDENED THEM THROUGHOUT THE 1% WAR.

IF I GO OUT THERE TO REACTOR ROAD THAT MAY BE WHERE I GET TAKEN OUT, BECAUSE THEY WILL JUST SHOOT ME DOWN. OR MAYBE NOT, THEY MAY NOT RECOGNIZE ME YET, BUT SOMEONE IS GOING TO SOON. I REALIZE NOW I DON’T WANT TO DIE. WHEN BEFORE I DIDN’T THINK I CARED. I’M FUCKING TERRIFIED. TRUTHFULLY, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT I HAVE TO LIVE FOR AFTER ALL OF THIS, WHAT I HAVE SEEN AND BEEN A PART OF BUT I AM SO HORRIBLY LONELY. I WANT TO MEET SOMEONE, FALL IN LOVE, BE GOOD TO HIM OR HER, IT DOESN’T MATTER. I WANT TO MAKE AMENDS. I AM SO SORRY, I AM SO VERY SORRY.